A recent CBS News/NY Times poll shows broad public support for some form of government health care.  The poll find that 49% of all Americans support a comprehensive government health care system to deal with all medical problems, while another 10% of those polled supported a limited government health care system geared toward emergencies.  32% of poll respondents thought that private enterprise should handle health care while the remaining 9% simply didn’t know.

The data was part of a larger polling project to measure the swings in American public opinion on a variety of issues today compared with 30 years ago.  Back in a 1979 poll, 48% of Americans felt private enterprise should handle health care while only 28% thought that government should cover all problems and 12% thought the government should cover emergencies.  A wide swing in public opinion was also polled on attitudes regarding homosexuality, with 62% of respondents in a 1979 Gallup Poll saying it was “Wrong” and 25% saying it was “Not Wrong” compared with 41% of those polled saying it was “Wrong” and 54% saying “Not Wrong” today.

You can  in supporting universal health coverage in the United States by checking out PNHP, Physicians for a National Health Program.

LINKS:

Daily Kos: NYT: 59% of “Center-Right” nation wants government healthcare

Boston Globe: Keep health reform on track

Jackson News: Medical community braces for change in Washington